Stories at
the Table
Drawing on the times we've lived in different cities and countries over the years, this series includes photos and travel diary entries from our travels. It starts with our summer
spent in Sydney, Australia in 2022, and our semester abroad in London
with travels throughout Europe in the Fall of 2022.
Sydney, Australia | Summer 2022
Travel Diary Entry #1 📝 | 26/05/22 - 28/05/22 | 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇫🇯🇦🇺 It took us 35 hours to get from Toronto to Sydney! We started off in Toronto and had a long stopover in Los Angeles, in which we had the opportunity to step out and explore the city for a bit. We also met our mentor Wimberley Meyer, who showed us around the city! We also filmed an episode of Pink Tea with her and her co-founder Katie, before going to dinner together. We left LA on Thursday night, and arrived in Nadi, Fiji on Saturday morning because we crossed the International Date Line 🤯 After a short stopover in Fiji, we made our final trip into Sydney. We spent our first day here unpacking and going to a nearby shopping centre, helping us get our footing in this incredible new place that we'll be calling home for the summer.
Travel Diary Entry #2 📝 | 29/05/22 🇦🇺 On our second day here, we attended orientation at the University of Sydney. We learned more about our program and had the opportunity to explore the USYD campus. The University of Sydney campus is stunning. As huge admirers of architecture wherever we go, we marvelled at the sandstone heritage buildings that make up the campus, and ended up staying there much longer than we planned because we wanted to take it all in. If this city was nothing more than the architectural wonder that is the University of Sydney, that would have been enough for the two of us! But there is so much more to see in this incredible city, and we’re excited to see as much of it as we can while we’re studying here.
Travel Diary Entry #3 📝 | 30/05/22 🇦🇺 On our third day here, we decided to walk to Bondi Beach so we could see and experience more of the city along the way. We took so long on our walk because there was just so much to see and we stopped so much, that it started raining and we had to cut our journey short. We didn’t mind though, because we saw such amazing things that we would have never been able to see had we driven or taken public transit. We went to this park pictured above, the Westfield at Bondi Juncture and saw so many cool houses! The architecture on many of the homes, especially the balconies, is so unique! We then took a bus to the Queen Victoria Building, which was a stunning historic site, and went to another Westfield mall. We were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was worth every minute. We think one of the more rewarding aspects of being in a city like this for a longer period of time, is getting a chance to be spontaneous and not worrying if things don’t go according to plan, because there’s more time to catch up later. We’re certainly enjoying our ability to explore with such freedom and without any time pressure! So excited to continue discovering more in this incredible city 🤍
Travel Diary Entry #4 📝 | 31/05/22 We finally made it to Bondi Beach and it was such a peaceful day overall 🤍 We were in awe of how stunning Bondi Beach is so it took us some time to take it all in. One of our bucket list items was to paint at the beach, and so we filled some ocean water in an old juice bottle, took out the watercolours and watercolour paper we brought with us and started to paint! Not our best work by a long stretch but it was so much fun 🥰 We spent the rest of our time walking by the beach, taking photos and videos, FaceTiming family and dipping our feet into the water. We spent a long time staring at the beauty of it all in silence too, soaking in the sun and observing this natural wonder, SubhanAllah.
Travel Diary Entry #5 📝 | 01/06/22 🇦🇺 We left quite late today because we slept in after taking online classes all night from U of T. We didn’t know where we’d be going until the very last minute, but ended up deciding to walk to the State Library of New South Wales. It was such a lovely walk through the city - we got to see some artful displays at a mall, stopped by the Town Hall, walked through Hyde Park, saw St. Mary’s Cathedral and some other buildings like the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney Hospital and the NSW Parliament. When we finally made it to the State Library of New South Wales, we were in awe of the architecture, inside and out! The Mitchell Reading Room and Map Room was stunning, and we loved stopping by two of the galleries, where we got to see their “Grand Vistas - Panoramas from the Collection,” “Paintings from the Collection” and “World Press Photo” exhibitions. Overall, today was filled with incredible architecture again, and we loved exploring the city spontaneously to learn more about its history.
Travel Diary Entry #6 | 02/06/22 🇦🇺 Every year, Vivid Sydney, an annual festival of light, music and ideas, is held here in Sydney. It’s truly incredible - and “is an annual creative festival that showcases the soul of [Sydney], in collaboration with the most brilliant and boundary-pushing artists, thinkers and musicians of our time.” We had an incredible time seeing the art displays and 3D light projections both from the Vivid Harbour Cruise that we went on, and afterwards on foot. We weren’t able to cover everything, but this was a great introduction to this mesmerizing festival!
Travel Diary Entry #7 | 04/06/22 🇦🇺 This day was filled with learning more about the history and culture of Sydney, New South Wales, and Australia. First, we went to the Museum of Sydney, and we really loved its emphasis on recognizing Australia’s aboriginal history, culture and traditions. One of the coolest exhibits was “Walking Through a Songline.” This is a new pop-up digital experience that allows you to walk through projections showing a songline, which, in Australian Aboriginal belief, are created through Ancestral journeys, and are seen as “pathways or corridors of knowledge.” We then went to The Hyde Park Barracks, and were truly blown away by the immersive experience they have created. The site was originally built to house convicts coming into the colony, and over the years it turned into an immigrant depot and an asylum. Everyone was given headsets which automatically play different stories and narrations as you enter each space in the museum. The exhibits ranged from dioramas and paintings to a whole room which was made to look just like the place where convicts would sleep at night. There were tons of artifacts as well including the clothing that convicts would wear and the tools they used. We thought it was really interesting how they divided up the floors in one of the buildings based on the changes that came to the site. As an example, the top floor was “fear,” and the bottom floor was “hope.” We really appreciated that the harmful impact of colonialism on Indigenous communities was highlighted throughout the site as well, because this is also a really important part of the history of this land and its people. We’ll describe this all in more detail in one of our upcoming vlogs from the city but overall this was just a really eye-opening experience!
Travel Diary Entry #8 | 05/06/22 🇦🇺 Today was a very relaxed day, but we were still able to see and experience so much! We visited another one of Sydney’s Living Museums: The Rose Seidler House. This was ‘the most talked about house in Sydney’ in 1950, and it was designed by Harry Seidler for his parents. According to the Sydney Living Museums website, the house “overturned almost every convention of suburban home design.” The website also says that “the radical design both inside and out integrated architecture, art and technology in a bold and optimistic vision for a new way of living.” It was a unique blend of retro touches which certainly made it appear to be a home from 1950, but also elements such as the panoramic views and the open concept layout which made it appear a lot more contemporary and modern. We love learning about architecture and seeing it in different parts of the world so this was a wonderful experience to have. We also just loved the neighbourhood around the house - it had such great views of bushland, really interesting designs for various homes, and great parks! We spent the whole day walking around the quiet and pleasant neighbourhood, and saw such beautiful flowers everywhere. We also saw some incredibly colourful birds on our way back to the train station at the end of the day! We love that we have enough time to explore hidden gems like this house - we would have probably never visited had we been on a shorter trip to the city 🏙
Travel Diary Entry #9 | 11/06/22 🇦🇺 Today we stepped into Sydney’s history by visiting Elizabeth Farm, one of the oldest homes in Australia. It truly felt like we had entered another world when we arrived in the area around the homestead. There were gorgeous green plants everywhere which contrasted beautifully against the beige/orange walls of the house, while matching with the window shutters. The Georgian style home also had really interesting touches of wooden furniture inside, which were set up in a way that you could imagine someone living there, like the desk with a lantern, papers and quills. We loved sitting on the wicker chairs in the verandah and on the steps, looking out into the garden and observing the evening sunshine - we stayed there as long as we could. Something else that was really special about this home was how interactive it was - you were allowed to touch all the items there and even sit on the furniture to gain the full experience of life in the home. This was probably the most culturally unique experience we have had so far, as none of the historic homes we have visited in other parts of the world, especially Canada, have been like Elizabeth Farm. We know that Sydney is famous for a lot of major attractions, but this hidden gem that we didn’t learn about until we got here is definitely one that you should add to your list!
Travel Diary Entry #10 | 12/06/22 🇦🇺 On this day we visited another one of Sydney’s museums and felt like we were transported to another century once again! We visited Vauclause House, one of Sydney’s few 19th century mansions which still has its original gardens and wooded grounds. We love how secluded these museums are, so the city and modern life disappears behind the trees once you enter the grounds around the home. One of the things we loved most was the scent of the charcoal-burning stove in the kitchen, which reminded us of our winters in Pakistan and especially in our village, when we would sit around a similar charcoal burning stove or ‘angeethi’ at night. The architecture of this home was so unique. They had a huge staircase and finely decorated bedrooms throughout the top floors. They also had a stunning open-roofed courtyard right in the middle, which had beautiful tiles and chairs to sit in. In addition, the gardens for this home were absolutely stunning. We still get shocked when we see palm trees everywhere because we don’t have any in Canada, and seeing them in the garden made us so happy! We met some lovely volunteers at the home as well, with whom we discussed the history of Australia and Sydney and compared it to the history of Canada and Britain’s colonial past overall, including the exploitative nature of it all and how it negatively impacted Indigenous communities. It’s really important to recognize these shared histories and understand how these systems continue to negatively impact Indigenous folks throughout our countries. Ultimately, it was a day full of learning and we enjoyed it tremendously. We will definitely be back to visit before we leave Sydney - especially the area surrounding the home which is close to Watson’s Bay and is absolutely beautiful.
Travel Diary Entry #11 | 13/06/22 🇦🇺 We got up bright and early on this day and headed to Coogee Beach on the bus. After spending some time in a park overlooking the beach, we started our long trek to Bondi Beach, which is around 7-8 kilometres long. The walk is supposed to take around 2 hours, but because we walked right along the coast and stopped many times at the beaches along the way, it took us over 4 hours to reach Bondi! It was amazing to see the ocean, and the beaches were all amazing. The waves were especially large that day so there were signs stopping people from swimming in the water. We watched the waves crash into the rocks and the sands so many times but it never got old. We could sit in one spot for hours and watch the huge waves come and go again and again. The water was such a stunning turquoise colour and the waves made it even more prominent. This whole time we have felt like Sydney is pretty similar to Canada, but the museums we have been visiting and now all these beaches have made us finally feel like we’re in another country. The colour of the water, the sand, the rocks, it’s all so different from what we’re used to seeing in Canada. We walked nearly 20,000 steps within the span of 4 hours and were so tired by the end, but it was completely worth it! We want to go back to Bronte beach once more and Bondi of course, and maybe do this walk again without taking videos this time so that we’re faster. Our main takeaway from this day was just being in awe of nature and how incredible it is, subhanAllah. We always said that we love mountains more than beaches but after seeing all these beautiful beaches here, we think it’s definitely a tie.
Travel Diary Entry #12 | 14/06/22 🇦🇺 The Grounds of Alexandria was one of the top places on our bucket list ever since we found out we were coming to Sydney. To say the least, it was absolutely incredible when we finally visited! The Grounds of Alexandria is a “thriving urban sanctuary,” built in a space that was a former pie factory. It blends together “the natural beauty of the great outdoors with simple, rustic charm.” And, the “inner-west eatery is an all-in-one café, bar, restaurant, garden and event hub.” Normally we would describe what we saw for ourselves but it was truly overwhelming to see everything that was going on and all the elements that it brought together, so we wanted to quote directly from their website! The Grounds also creates really unique and immersive experiences for guests and when we went, the theme was related to Alice in Wonderland! Fun fact: Alice in Wonderland was the first movie we ever saw in theatres, and it was also the first movie that we saw in 3D! So this theme has a very special place in our hearts. We went early in the morning so it wasn’t too busy, and we walked around all the restaurants and event venues before heading for breakfast. We really love colourful places and this has probably been the most colourful place we’ve been to in Sydney so far. We ended up eating at the Grounds of Alexandria Café, and the food was really flavourful and delicious! We tried their Smashed Avo on Toast, hot chocolate and a special pastry labeled “Eat Me,” inspired by the Wonderland theme. We honestly don’t even know what flavour the pastry was but it was amazing — the decorations on top including the mushroom and the card were made of chocolate, and there was a mini macaron whose exact flavour we couldn’t pinpoint either. Overall, this definitely tops our list for places to eat in Sydney!
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Travel Diary Entry #13 | 17/06/22 🇦🇺 This day was one of the more relaxed ones that we have had on our trip. We left our place after lunch and started off by trying gelato from Anita’s Gelato. It was such an adorable place and only a few minutes away from our accommodation! After that, we headed over to Scape Redfern and spent some time trying the podcast equipment in their Broadcast Studio. We love all the facilities that are available there - they’ve really thought of everything when it comes to student life. In the evening, we came back home and worked on our assignments. The day wasn’t jam-packed with activities but we appreciated getting a chance to slowly explore and try some new things!
Travel Diary Entry #14 | 22/06/22 🇦🇺 On this day, we visited Rose Bay, which is one of our favourite places in all of Sydney! We remember seeing Rose Bay along our bus ride to Vauclause House earlier on in our trip, and came here again just to spend some time during the sunset there. It is one of the most stunning and peaceful places - with wonderful beach homes lining the coast, beautiful sailboats wading in the bay, and clear blue water that sparkles in the sun. There are also huge trees of all kinds, and a beautiful view of a hilltop with large homes including one building that looks just like a castle. We were at a loss for words when we went there, and despite the long ride it took to get there, it was so worth it. We could spend hours there, looking at the water and letting the sun’s rays spill all around us. But alas, we didn’t have that kind of time and as soon as the sun started to dip lower in the horizon, we headed back home and to the mall so we could get some items that we needed to purchase. Luckily, we found a place there for dinner that had some amazing Turkish food! Overall, it was one of our most memorable evenings during our whole trip because of how calm the area around Rose Bay is and just how stunning the views are.
Travel Diary Entry #15 | 23/06/22 🇦🇺 Our first day of in-person class was so much fun and so relaxing as well - it was three hours long and we learned so much during that time! We think the size of the tutorial (there were around 10-12 students) really helped too because we got to know more of the students and had more opportunities to interact with our tutor. After we finished, we decided to go to the mall and get food for a picnic lunch in the park! The beautiful park we had lunch at was right next to the mall, and right in between our university and accommodation. We had such a great time outside and this is probably one of the first times that the two of us has had a picnic alone together. We found so much joy even with this simple activity, and it was a lot more fun than making something to eat back at our apartment or ordering in. Afterwards, we went on a walk around the neighbourhood which was so beautiful and colourful! During the evening we spent at the Rocks, we had a great time walking around the historic area and seeing the Sydney Opera House as well. It was raining a little and a thunderstorm was about to come, hence the purple sky - which was both beautiful and scary. We headed home earlier than expected once we started to see lightning and did some groceries that evening too. Overall, we were so happy to get started with our classes and continue having a chance to explore alongside our studies 🤍
Travel Diary Entry #16 | 24/06/22 🇦🇺 We met Koalas and Kangaroos on this day!! The Koalas were absolutely adorable and we didn’t realize that they slept while hugging the trees, so seeing them do this made them even cuter 🥺 We also saw some small Kangaroos who weren’t very active but fun to see nonetheless - many of them were asleep too. After our visit to the Sydney Wildlife Zoo where we saw all these animals, we were on our way home but stumbled upon a restaurant called Jackalberry. It was right on theme with the wildlife experience we had earlier in the morning and we loved its ambience and food so much. We also tried pavlova for the first time, which is a famous dessert in Australia. It was very sweet and mostly just tasted like sugar but it was a good experience to try it out nonetheless. For the rest of the day, we spent some time at a nearby mall and then went home. Overall, this day was about checking off some of our bucket list items in terms of the animals we saw - and while we wish we got a chance to pet some of them, seeing them up close was also a really fun experience.
Travel Diary Entry #17 | 26/06/22 🇦🇺 This was how we spent our birthday! We started off the day super early and went to the mall near our house to buy flowers and picnic supplies. Then, we headed over to the Opera House and Sydney Harbour area and explored for a bit before finding the perfect spot overlooking the Opera House at the Botanic Gardens! We continued exploring various areas for the rest of the day and made our way to the Queen Victoria Building where we had an early dinner at a beautiful pink-themed restaurant called Reign. This was our first birthday without our parents so we missed them a lot, but spending the day outside and doing all these activities made it enjoyable nonetheless. We had our parents on FaceTime throughout the day so that they could be with us virtually too which made it a lot better 🤍
Travel Diary Entry #18 | 28/06/22 - 02/07/2022 🇦🇺 Because our classes had started by this point, we were able to do fewer activities on each day. Plus, as our last week in the city began, torrential rains started in Sydney and the surrounding area and limited our access to outdoor attractions. Still, we tried our best to make the most of our time in Sydney and explore as much as we could. In the days shared in this reel, we visited the Botanic Gardens, the Government House, the Westfield Mall at Bondi Junction and David Jones which is an amazing department store similar to Harrods in London. All of these places were so much fun to visit, and we especially loved David Jones because of the amazing displays it had - including the toy section which had a really adorable Pooh bear stuffed animal (we've loved Pooh since our childhoods).
Travel Diary Entry #19 | 03/07/22 - 05/07/2022 🇦🇺 The torrential rains continued throughout the week but we made the most of the little time we had left in Sydney during our last week! On the days shown in this vlog, we did some early morning photography at USYD before visiting Elizabeth Bay House, known as the “finest house in the colony.” It was another Living Museum on our list and we loved it! We then went for some lunch as we waited for the rain to settle down before heading over to Bondi Junction for the rest of the evening. The next day, we went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales and returned to Bondi Junction to check an item off our bucket list in every country: buying a book and reading it at the store you found it in. The next day was our last class, after which we went around the Redfern neighbourhood to photograph and take videos of the architecture, before going to Scape Redfern for the evening. Overall, we did as many activities as we could on these three days despite the challenging weather, but we’re glad we persisted because it was so much fun and memorable! 🤍
Travel Diary Entry #20 | 07/07/22 - 09/07/2022 🇦🇺 Our last few days in Sydney were finally sunny! We made the most of our time there by visiting as many of our favourite places as possible. On our last day of classes, we explored campus a bit more and then headed over to the Fullerton Hotel for lunch. The hotel is absolutely stunning and looks like a movie set! Then, in the evening, we headed to Watson’s Bay. The Rose Bay/Watson’s Bay area is our favourite in all of Sydney and being able to visit around the sunset time was an absolute dream. Everything was so peaceful and beautiful, and we saw the main city from across the water as well. We also walked all the way to the Hornby lighthouse which felt like the edge of the world! A lot of the beaches and cliffs in Sydney reminded us of Narnia because we re-watched all the movies not long before coming here - this made everything even more special 🤍 The next morning, we were “living on the edge” with all that we packed into the day. We felt like we didn’t have enough of Watson’s Bay so we decided to go there one last time, departing just before dawn. It was as incredible as always, and we caught a ferry to Circular Quay so we could depart for our next adventure: Scenic World! This was a very long train journey especially because of the rains and actions taking place around the city that weekend. We were lucky to catch all our trains, explore Scenic World (which was stunning!) and come home in time to wrap up packing and spend time with our roommates. On our last morning before our flight home, we went to USYD one last time to appreciate its architecture and say goodbye to the wonderful university we spent this summer studying at. That brought our Australian adventures to a close - what a marvellous and wonderful time it was! Until next time 🤍🇦🇺
London, United Kingdom | Fall 2022
Europe Travel Diary Entry #1 | 25/09/22 🇬🇧 After a whirlwind of a month, we finally made it to London for our Study Abroad program at UCL. We are absolutely thrilled for this opportunity and can’t wait to learn and grow here throughout the semester! Studying and living in London has been a dream of ours since childhood and we truly can’t believe that we’re here and fulfilling it now Alhamdulillah 🤍 Our first full day in London was spent exploring without any particular destination in mind. We went to Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, before walking through the Notting Hill area to admire their lovely homes. It was a tranquil and calm day that really helped us feel right at home. One of our favourite things about the city is that despite being such a big and busy one, there are many areas that are peaceful and quiet. We loved the stunning homes and buildings we saw on our walk, and can’t wait to admire more of London’s architecture during our time here!
Europe Travel Diary Entry #2 | 26/09/22 🇬🇧 We’ve been quite jet lagged so our days have been starting pretty late, but we still found time to explore a bit more of the city. On this day, we explored the Knightsbridge area and went to Harrods, one of our favourite department stores! It was just as beautiful as we remembered since first visiting a few years ago. The other thing we really love about London is how special every street feels - we can’t get enough of the beautiful architecture here 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #3 | 27/09/22 🇬🇧 On this day, we went to University College London for the first time. In line with our program at U of T, we’re studying as affiliate students in the department of International Relations and Political Science at UCL. We absolutely love walking to university - there is such beautiful architecture everywhere, including our campus. We’re slowly getting more adjusted to life in this city too. We’ll continue to keep you all updated with our experiences here!
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Europe Travel Diary Entry #4 | 03/10/22 🇬🇧 Our first day of classes at UCL! On this day, we took our first set of classes on the Political Economy of South Asia, had lunch at a nearby Turkish Restaurant, walked home without using any maps, and tried our hand at cooking by making some spinach-avocado pasta. We’re slowly getting adjusted to London life and the places are getting familiar too, especially on our walk home where we’re beginning to remember certain places like Regent’s Park. This was a day full of trying new things and we had so much fun overall!
Europe Travel Diary Entry #5 | 04/10/22 🇬🇧 On this day we started class really early but had a long break until our next set of classes, so we went to an incredible Waterstones nearby to pick up some stationary. We loved it so much that we stayed for the rest of the time and got some work done in their lovely study spaces upstairs. It was such a big bookstore with four floors, and such unique decorations everywhere we went. We loved everything inside and the view of the street outside as well. It also had an entire section dedicated to Harry Potter - something we’re seeing more regularly here! We’ll definitely coming back here more often 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #6 | 05/10/22 🇬🇧 Believe it or not, a major highlight for us on this day was grocery shopping. We had initially left the house in search of a local library to get some work done, but changed plans after seeing some Mediterranean grocery stores and a Waitrose store. Every little thing, even grocery shopping, seems so special while we’re abroad, because it’s these simple things that make you feel like you’re transitioning from being a tourist to an actual resident in the city you’re in. We also love comparing our experiences of these local activities among all of the places we’ve been to. We ended off by going to University and felt we had a very productive day overall!
Europe Travel Diary Entry #7 | 06/10/22 🇬🇧 We love going to the Waterstones near UCL and visit as often as we can 🤍 As we settle into new places, we love finding spots like this to go back to as often as we can, because we that helps us feel at home there. In Sydney, we found that at Rose Bay and Harry Hartog, and here we’re finding it at Waterstones. At the end of this minivlog, we also included a clip from our wonderful bus ride home. London truly is a gorgeous city 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #8 | 10/10/22 🇬🇧 This was one of our favourite days here so far. We had a lovely walk to University and spent time in between classes going to Trafalgar Square. On the way back, we decided to take a new route home and passed through Regent’s Park which is absolutely stunning. We love passing through new places and exploring corners of this city that we just happen to stumble upon without much planning.
Europe Travel Diary Entry #9 | 11/10/22 🇬🇧 On this day we started off by attending classes and working out of Cafe Nicaragua in the UCL Student Centre. One of our favourite parts of this building is its rooftop view of London and the UCL campus! On our way home we took a new route again and absolutely loved doing this to see parts of London we’d never know how to find otherwise 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #10 | 13/10/22 🇬🇧 There are many things on our bucket list for London, and despite not having any strategies for completing the list, we check off something from it everyday. For example, on this day after classes, we decided to walk home by passing by Regent Street. We then came across Liberty London, a department store we had on our bucket list but completely forgot was here! It was lovely exploring this stunning street and department store 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #11 | 14/10/22 🇬🇧 On this day we met some of our friends in London who we have met and connected with over the years through our organization and the Girl Up Campaign! It was so wonderful to see our friend Bethel again after so long, and to finally see Mofi and Rosella in person for the first time ❤️ We discussed politics, our work as activists, caught up with what’s happening in our lives and so much more. The conversations we have with fellow young women - especially those who we have engaged with through our activism efforts are always so uplifting and inspiring. We’re so grateful to be studying abroad in a city where we have people who we know, and such amazing people too! Another aspect of this day that we loved was spending our evening exploring the city and its attractions, especially during our walk with Rosella from the Westminster area to Trafalgar Square, and then along the infamous Thames River. The restaurant and cafés we visited were amazing too!
Europe Travel Diary Entry #12 | 19/10/22 - 21/10/22 🇩🇪 We had an absolutely amazing time being in Berlin, Germany as youth leaders for the Global Partnership for Education! We had a wonderful time working with the GPE team in Germany including the amazing Gianna and Cora throughout this trip ❤️ We met with German parliamentarians to discuss the importance of investing in education (especially GPE), and our journey as education activists since we were eight years old. We also discussed the impacts of climate change on education in Pakistan due to the floods this year and why we need to transform education systems to be resilient in the future. We joined GPE’s CEO Charles North throughout this trip for our various meetings and engagements, which was an immense honour for us as well. We also loved moderating a panel at Berlin’s Human Rights Film Festival where we discussed how education can impact other issues including peace building, food security and climate change. We loved finally meeting fellow GPE Youth Leader Sunni in person for this panel, and the awesome Sheba George and Omar Alkadamani! It’s always wonderful to meet our fellow changemakers and learn about the incredible work they are doing 🤍 We ended off our trip by participating in a parliamentary meeting with Tanzania’s Former President and GPE board chair Dr. Jakaya Kikwete, GPE’s CEO Charles North, German parliamentarians including Knut Gerschau, and members of civil society organizations. We had a wonderful time participating in such an important discussion with an incredible view of the German Parliament! Overall, we just want to say that we’re so honoured to be continuing to advocate for a cause that is very close to our hearts with GPE, and want to thank them tremendously for giving us the opportunity to participate in this trip! We loved spending time in this beautiful city and joining our wonderful colleagues at GPE for the past few days here. Finally, we want to say a huge thank you to our GPE Dream Team Cora and Gianna on the ground in Germany, and to the entire wonderful GPE delegation who joined us including Sekou, Sabine, Aditi, Charles and Dr. Kikwete, for all your hard work in making this advocacy happen!
Europe Travel Diary Entry #13 | 17/10/22 🇬🇧 On this day, we went to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey after classes. We absolutely loved seeing the gorgeous storefronts on our way there and walking by Trafalgar Square again! We ended up sitting by Big Ben until sunset before starting our walk home. On our way, we passed through the Blue Bridge in St. James’ Park, which had amazing views of London and Buckingham Palace!
Europe Travel Diary Entry #14 | 18/10/22 🇬🇧 What a dream Covent Garden is! We loved visiting and seeing all the Fall flower arrangements before the winter decorations go up in London, and the lovely shops and architecture had us in awe as always 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #15 | 25/10/22 🇬🇧 London in the Fall is incredible! Although we didn’t plan it to be this way, we loved going through so many amazing tourist spots on this day. We started off in Kensington Palace and its gardens, then walked over to Harrod’s and had lunch in the area. Afterwards, we continued to St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, and ended off with Westminster Abbey 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #16 | 28/10/22 🇬🇧 On this day we hosted the Feminae Carta London Summit! It was such a busy day but we had the absolute best time 🤍 We started off with Brunch at Kensington High Street, went to UCL to meet up with another conference speaker, hosted our summit, and ended off with dinner and exploring the area around Covent Gardens with our Feminae Carta Team members who were able to join us in person! Such a rewarding and memorable day 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #17 | 05/11/22 - 06/11/22 🇪🇸 We’ve been planning a trip to Spain pretty much our entire lives and started looking into Andalucía specifically around three years ago. This Reading Week, we had the most wonderful time finally getting to go. What made it even more special was that our parents were able to join us! ❤️❤️ Seville was the first stop on our trip and we spent the entire day visiting ancient palaces, strolling by open piazzas, wandering through the stunning streets and soaking in the southern Spanish sun ☀️ Our favourite spots from this day were the Alcázar of Seville, which had architecture inspired by the Alhambra in Granada. It was originally a Muslim residential fortress and when the Christian King Peter took over, he commissioned Arab artists to build a new palace in the traditional Mudéjar style. Needless to say, it was stunning! We also loved visiting the Plaza De España, which was a stunning open plaza with beautiful paintings, a canal and bridges throughout! The paintings featured ancient Spanish kingdoms and were so detailed as well. We can’t wait to share the rest of our journey in Spain with you all!
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Europe Travel Diary Entry #18 | 07/11/22 🇪🇸 It’s so hard to describe Granada in words. To say the least, it’s one of our favourite places that we have ever been to in the whole world, and there isn’t any palace we can think of that’s more serene, beautiful and awe-inspiring than the Alhambra ❤️ What a beautiful gift from the Nasrid dynasty to Granada and the whole world. We were speechless seeing the architecture, filled with verses of the Qur’an and Islamic references in each room. From a rendition of Allah’s infinite universe in the ceiling of one room, to the stunning Generalife Gardens which were meant to be the closest thing to Allah’s Garden of Eden on Earth for the Nasrid Sultans. We can’t wait to go back and spend hours in this place 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #19 | 08/11/22 🇪🇸 At its peak, in the year 935, Cordoba was considered to be the the largest city in the world. Now what remains is a beautiful, quiet city with ancient remnants from its interesting history of Muslim and Christian rule. The main spot to visit is Cordoba’s Mezquita/Cathedral, a truly dynamic religious site which was a mosque and converted into a Cathedral during the Christian reconquista of Southern Spain. The Christian rulers maintained much of the Mosque’s original elements too, which was really amazing to see. The Pakistani Poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal went to the mosque and prayed there for the first time in centuries as well. He wrote a poem about then infamous “Mosque of Cordoba” as well. Being there was truly incredible, and it was so wonderful finding something connected to Pakistan and Allama Iqbal in the middle of Europe 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #20 | 09/11/22 🇪🇸 Malaga was our last stop on our wonderful trip to Spain! We loved seeing this incredible city in the country’s “Costa Del Sol” and enjoying the Spanish sun one last time before heading back to London (which has been surprisingly sunny too but not as much as Spain). Overall this was a wonderful trip and some of our highlights from this city were its beaches, palm trees and stunning blue water 🤍
Europe Travel Diary Entry #21 | 20/11/22 🇮🇹 Venice was a dream we never want to wake up from! Truly an incredible city, just like we imagined! We were so grateful to have such perfect, sunny weather while we visited as well. We absolutely loved wandering through Venice’s narrow streets, seeing the gondolas and canals and stunning colourful architecture
Europe Travel Diary Entry #22 | 21/11/22 🇮🇹 Milan was a short but incredibly memorable trip. The architecture especially in the area around the Duomo was absolutely amazing! It was so much to take in at once and one thing that was missing was more time to spend in the city to take it all in! We’re grateful that we even had a chance to spend a weekend in Italy however, and will always cherish these whirlwind moments. The hospitality and kindness of the locals made everything especially memorable ❤️🇮🇹
Europe Travel Diary Entry #22 | 06/12/22 🇲🇦 World Cup season began, and we were slowly watching the matches and keeping up whenever we could. All of London was watching as well, obviously, but one of the most unforgettable World Cup experiences we ever had was on this day, when Morocco defeated Spain in the Quarter Finals. From our apartment, we could hear the celebrations, the fireworks, the cheers, and with no direction or plans we just headed outside. We ended up on Edgeware Road, also known as 'Arab Road,' where little celebrations had already begun - or it seemed as though they had just passed through. We kept following the crowds, stopping to celebrate with the shop owners and families holding up Morocco flags and celebrating. We walked and walked and somehow ended up at Picadilly Circus where the real crowds were. People were holding up Palestine flags, lighting fireworks, doing the dabke, blasting music. It was jubilation and joy all around us, and it felt like every Muslim, Arab, and ethnic community had gathered to celebrate. Truly unbelievable and one of our favourite experiences of our whole trip.